


I Am Thou, Thou Art I (hiatus)

by AidanTheCrab



Category: Persona 5, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: BAMF Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki Being an Asshole, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, Izuku gets a Persona
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:21:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24109642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidanTheCrab/pseuds/AidanTheCrab
Summary: I Am Thou, Thou Art I. Thou Hast Aquired A New Vow.It Shall Become The Wings Of Rebellion That Breaketh Thy Chains Of Captivity.With The Birth Of Loyalty Persona, I Have Obtained The Winds Of Blessing That Shall Lead To Freedom And New Power.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Midoriya Izuku/Takamaki Ann, Morgana/Hatred
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	1. Thieves

A man in his mid-thirties walks down the streets of the small back alley town of Yogen-Jaya, he has fluffy green hair that was lined with a few wisps of black, green eyes, and a few freckles dotting each of his cheeks. He wore a simple dark green hoodie, cargo shorts, and a pair of red high-tops that had seen their fair share of abuse.

The man smiled to himself as he came across a cafe named Leblanc and entered the quiet coffee shop. He sat down in one of the booths and waited for his attic dwelling friends to come down and greet him.

It wasn't too long before the creaking stairs brought his attention to the stairwell, where a very sleepy looking woman, only a year older than the man in the booth, was standing. She had short brown hair and deep red eyes, she was wearing a large button up shirt that hung halfway down her thighs.

"I-Izuku?!" She yelled out surprised as she noticed he was there.

"Morning Makoto, is Ren still asleep?" Izuku asked the former student council president of Shujin highschool.

"He is, and I told you to stop walking in here when we're not awake," Makoto scolded.

"You're the one who leaves the door unlocked," Izuku grumbled to himself.

The bell to the shop rang once more and an additional two people walked into the shop. The first was a thin man, with medium length blue hair, and gray eyes. He was wearing a blue, long sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants. 

The second was a man with short, spiky blonde hair, brown eyes, and a blonde box beard. He wore a leather jacket with a yellow shirt underneath, leather pants, and a silver chain. Both men were the same age as Izuku

"Yo!" The blonde man ecstatically greeted, he ruffled his hand through Izuku's hair and smiled, "Still dying your hair I see."

"Hey Ryuji, still going through a midlife crisis I see," Izuku shot back.

"It ain't a damn midlife crisis!" Ryuji yelled.

The other man was simply staring at a painting on a wall and smiling, much to the confusion of the others.

"Are you feeling well, Yusuke?" Makoto asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just can't help but stare at the Sayuri's beauty everytime I see it," Yusuke explained.

"So Izuku, where's the old ball and chain?" Ryuji asked.

"Old?" An irritated female voice asked, prompting Ryuji to scream and fall out of the booth.

A woman of the same age as everyone else, sat down where Ryuji had been, right next to Izuku. She had pale blonde hair tied into twin tails, and green eyes, she wore a pair of blue jeans and a red crop top.

"Ann, what kept you so long?" Yusuke questioned.

"Sorry, I got caught up in Shibuya," Ann answered.

"You guys are so loud," yet another voice said, this time from the stairwell. Another man was standing at the entrance running a hand through his black hair, he had black eyes, and was wearing a black sleep shirt along with a pair of green sweatpants.

"Hey there's our guy," Ryuji smiled as he threw his arm over the man's shoulder.

"When Sojiro retired and gave the shop to me I thought I'd get a lot more peace around here," the man grumbled.

"You won't get much peace with us around, Ren," Izuku joked.

"So where's Futaba and Haru?" Ren asked.

As if on cue the door opened once more and an additional two people walked in, the first was a short girl, who looked to be a year or two younger than the rest, with long orange hair, a pair of round glasses, and brown eyes, she was wearing a pair of gray sweatpants, a bright green shirt that was so big it exposed one of her shoulders, and a pair of red headphones around her neck. 

And the other was a girl with brown hair in a curly bob, her eyes her a light brown, and she wore a fluffy sleeveless sweater, a ruffled skirt, and a pair of white leggings.

Both girls greeted the rest of them enthusiastically, and Ren began preparing the coffee and curry, with Makoto's help. The 8 of them chatted for a long time, laughing about their current and past adventures.

"Do you guys remember how we met?" Izuku asked with a nostalgic smile on his face.

"How could we forget?" Ren asked back, "Especially after basically discovering an entirely new world."

  
  


**\-- Many years earlier**

  
  


"30,000 Yen?! That's all an Olympic medal is worth?!" A much younger Ryuji cried out.

Currently Ryuji, Ann, and Ren were all gathered around a table on the rooftop of Shujin highschool.

"Remember that time in middle school, I lent you some money?" Ann asked with a sly smile on her face.

"There is no way in hell I borrowed 30,000 Yen from you!" Ryuji argued.

"No, but with interest rates-" 

"'Interest rates' my ass!"

"What if we use the money to go out to a fancy restaurant?" Ren suggested.

"That's a good idea, there's this place that me and Shiho have been wanting to go to for a while. We should do it on the last day of our break, so we're all rejuvenated when classes start back up," Ann said.

"Then the 5th, on children's day," Ryuji agreed.

Ann's phone began to buzz with a text, "Sorry guys, I've gotta go."

"Alright, we're gonna stay up here for a bit, see you guys later," Ryuji called out as Ann exited the rooftop.

Ann was a few feet from the school's exit, when the sound of fists colliding against flesh, and sharp grunts of pain reached her ears.

Ann followed the sounds to the side of the school, where a frail green-haired boy was being pinned against a wall and assaulted by three other guys, one in particular standing out with his spiky, pale blonde hair.

"Now, Deku, calm down, it's not my fault that you were late on the payments, is it?" The blonde one asked with a smarmy grin on his face.

"No, Kacchan, it's my fault," the frail boy answered, his voice was so small it almost hurt.

"That's right, so that means that you have to take the punishment for not upholding your end of the deal," the blonde swiftly applied his fist to the other boy's face.

"Hey!" the second that Ann yelled, the two that were pinning the frail boy let go and ran, the blonde boy however, stayed and faced Ann.

"This has got nothing to do with you, scram bitch," the blonde spat out.

"What did you call me!?"

"Tch, I don't have time for this. Just try to remember this if you get the idea to challenge me again, Katsuki Bakugou fucking runs this school," Katsuki said before he walked off.

"Are you ok?" Ann asked the frail boy, she tried to help him up only for him to push her hand away.

"Why did you do that?" He asked.

"W-what? He was attacking you!"

"Kacchan's my friend, he wouldn't hurt me on purpose," the frail boy's tone had gone from passive to slightly angry.

"Are you for real?" Ann ludicrously questioned.

"I don't mean to be rude but I don't appreciate people sticking their noses where they don't belong," this time he sounded actually mad, the frail boy left without another word. But Ann recognized that look in his eye, it was one of a hesitant and silent plea for help.

Shiho had the same look in her eye just before he jumped. Ever since she had beaten Kamoshida's shadow she'd made it a point to herself to answer that plea, no matter who it was.

Ann pulled her phone out and opened up the metaverse navigation app, and three lines of white text popped up; the first asked for a name, the second asked for a location, and the last asked for a distortion. 

She silently said Katsuki Bakugou into her phone, and the world around her began to distort.  _ 'So he has a palace, that's a good sign. I should show this to the others before anything else though,'  _ the quarter American girl thought as she pocketed her phone.

Ren and Ryuji were just about to exit through the school gate when Ann caught up to her, simply holding out her phone to them when they asked why she was still there.

"Hey I know that guy," Ryuji said when he saw the name on the screen, "We were on the track team together, he's a real vulgar douche."

"That must mean a lot coming from you, Ryuji," a voice said from inside Ren's bag.

"Shut it, ya damn cat!" the vulgar blonde retorted.

"Ryuji, focus. Morgana, shut it. Ann, continue," Ren ordered.

"We have to destroy his palace!"

"Uhh, why?" Ryuji asked.

"Isn't that what we're supposed to do, y'know, as Phantom Thieves?" Ann asked back.

"What's your sudden interest in this guy?" Ren questioned.

"I saw him attacking this kid with dark green hair, kept saying things about payments and deals, and when I confronted him told me not to forget who runs the school," Ann answered.

"Sounds like an overzealous idiot," Morgana commented

"Wait, green hair?" Ryuji asked, getting a conformational nod from Ann, "Four freckles on each cheek, green eyes?" Ann nodded again.

"Do you know him?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, he's in my class, sits right across from me. His name is Izuku Midoriya," Ryuji answered.

"What's worse is that Midoriya apparently thinks Bakugou is his friend," Ann ranted.

Ren sighed, "I guess it can't hurt to try and investigate it."

"If we're going to do it, we're gonna need the rest of the keywords," Morgana reminded.

"Alright, what's the locati-"

"Shujin academy," Ann, cutting off Ryuji. The world around them distorted once more.

"Alright, next is the distortion," Morgana said.

"Well, Ann said that Bakugou said he runs Shujin, so maybe he sees it as some sort of business?" Ryuji suggested.

"Well that does narrow our search, but not by a lot," Ren said.

"Let's just say random things until something pops up," Ann said.

"Just guessing isn't going to get us anywhe-" Morgana was interrupted by the others

"Factory."

"Conditions not met."

"Mall."

"Conditions not met."

"Airport."

"Conditions not met."

"By the way, Lady Ann, where did you want to take us to celebrate?" the cat asked.

"Oh, it's this buffet that's on the first floor of this hotel in-"

"Candidate found, mapping out navigation route," the app said before Ann could finish. The world began to distort again, only this time much stronger.

"I'm too tired for this shit," Ryuji complained.

  
  


**\--**

  
  


When their vision became clear again, they were slightly surprised to find a large hotel, at least 17 stories high, towering over where the school had once been, giving off a golden aura due to the many lights shimmering through the windows.

Ryuji gave a whistle of approval, "Man, this place is fancy!" Instead of his school clothes, Ryuji was now wearing a metal plated leather jacket, leather pants, a pair of boots, a red scarf, along with a pair of yellow gloves, and a metal mask in the form of a skull covered the top part of his face.

"Don't compliment him!" Ann scolded, she was now wearing a red latex bodysuit that had a red tail attached to the back, pink gloves, and a red mask that looked similar to the face of a big cat rested on her face.

"You guys are like an old married couple," Ren chuckled, he was dressed up in a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black pants, brown-black winklepickers, a pair of red gloves, and a black and white domino mask.

"Everybody remembers their codenames, right?" A bipedal cat with an oversized head and a yellow bandana tied around his neck asked.

"Yeah, I'm Skull, Ann's Panther, you're Mona, and Ren's Joker," Skull answered.

"Good, now all that's left to do is find an entrance point, the front door is a bad idea," Mona advised.

"Yo, come check this out," Skull called out, grabbing the group's attention and directing it to where a small gate flanked by two brick walls stood, "Think we could get through there?"

"Good idea Skull," Joker said, before pushing the gate open. They were now at the back of the hotel, where a pool innocently sat.

"We probably shouldn't enter through the backdoor either, it'd be too easy to be spotted," Mona warned them.

"Is this a laundry chute?! It looks big enough to fit a person," Panther said in surprise as she opened up a metal hatch in the wall.

"...Guys, I think I know how to get in undetected," Joker said.

"You don't mean-" before Skull could finish, their leader jumped down the chute. All three of them groaned before they followed him down.

The room that they landed in was dark and musty, filled with the sound of multiple large machines rumbling. The group of thieves exited the laundry room and crept through the white tile hallway into a square waiting room with an elevator in the back wall. Skull pressed the button and the doors began to pry themselves open.

"So, what floor are we going to?" Panther asked once they were inside the elevator.

"We should probably just go to the first one, then head back, don't want to burn ourselves out too much," Ryuji suggested.

Joker nodded before he pressed the button and the doors closed as they were lifted up from the basement floor. The elevator doors opened and they were forced to hide as a pair of shadows were standing not too far away.

The first shadow was wearing a white button up shirt, a black tie, red vest, a red hat with a few gold trimmings, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. The second was wearing an all white suit, with the exception of a bright red tie, his pale blonde hair looked very similar to an explosion.

"That's Bakugou's shadow!" Skull whispered.

"Be quiet so we can hear them!" Panther scolded.

"Sir, profit margins are low, it seems that a few of the guests here are refusing to pay their rent," the first shadow said.

"Well then, we will have to make an example out of one of our patrons. Pick a random guest and have them thrown out, regardless of whether or not they pay what they owe. And double the rent as well," Shadow Bakugou commanded.

"So he sees the school as a hotel, and the students are the residents that he can extort anyway he pleases," Mona said with disgust.

"Wait, who called the elevator?" Shadow Bakugou asked.

"Run for it!" Skull shouted as the group ran from the elevator to the front entrance and out, the world began to distort and the group found themselves at the school entrance once more.

**\--**

"Man, that was close," Ann sighed.

"We have to be more careful, if we were caught who knows what would have happened," Morgana cautioned them, "We should meet back here tomorrow afternoon and go back into his palace."

"Yeah, yeah, but right now I just wanna take a nap, I'll see you guys tomorrow," Ryuji said before he walked off.

"I'm in the same boat, see you all later," Ann waved goodbye and left as well.

Ren, too, was extremely exhausted, but he dragged his feet all the way home, blissfully ignorant of a certain green haired boy who had seen them return from the metaverse.


	2. Awakening

It was a warm day in Shibuya and Ryuji was passing the time in the arcade, before he had to meet with Ann and Ren.

"Gah! This thing is effin' rigged!" Ryuji cried as he kicked the claw machine he was using.

"What did I tell you about coming into my arcade, Deku?" a familiar voice asked in a threatening tone.

"I-I'm sorry, Kacchan, I just came here to see if you wanted to hang out?" another voice weakly mumbled.

Ryuji rounded a corner and saw Katsuki pinning Izuku against a wall of machines.

"Why would I ever want to do that?" Katsuki asked.

"B-because we're friends."

Ryuji watched Katsuki get angrier than he already was and he decided to step in before anything could happen. He grabbed the other blond by the shoulder and yanked him off of Izuku.

"Sakamoto?" Katsuki questioned, "Don't think I've seen you since you had that 'accident' with Mr. Kamoshida."

"Watch it," Ryuji growled.

"Pretty upsetting that the track team was disbanded because someone couldn't keep their anger in, isn't it?" Katsuki taunted some more.

Ryuji clenched his fist in an attempt to quell his anger, his phone suddenly buzzing and he saw that he got a text message from Ren.

_ Ren: We've moved up the meeting time. Get down to the front gate and we'll enter Katsuki's palace. _

_ Ryuji: I'll be there soon, I'm in the middle of the blond prick that we're targeting. _

_ Ren: End it, we don't want him getting suspicious of anything. _

Ryuji stuffed his phone in his pocket and muttered, "This ain't over," before walking out of the arcade.

  
  


**\--**

  
  


Izuku stood peering out of the alley way next the school, trying to see what they were doing at the school gate during their break.

Izuku couldn't hear them all that well but he could make out a few words like: shadows, hotel, and palace. 

He saw the black-haired kid pull out his phone and press a few buttons before Izuku saw his world take on a red hue and it began to distort beyond recognition.

  
  


**\--**

  
  


When Izuku was able to see clearly again he was no longer in the alleyway, but instead, standing in front of a large, shimmering hotel.

Izuku also noted that his schoolmates had changed into very strange looking outfits, and they were now joined by a cat with a head the size of a football.

The timid boy stealthily followed them to the back of the building and through a large metal gate. Unfortunately, he was so far behind them, that by the time he got on the other side of the gate, he had lost them.

Izuku, not knowing where else to go, looped back around to the front and entered through the main door.

The hotel was almost empty, save for a single person at the front desk, he was wearing a standard hotel staff uniform, but something about him felt...off.

"Welcome to Hotel Wrath, do you have a reservation?" The staff member asked.

"R-reservation?" Izuku asked back.

"Why of course; a reservation to stay at one of our luxury rooms. If you would like, I could book you a last minute room...for a fee of course," the man offered.

Izuku looked out of the window, it was pitch black outside, although he could have sworn that it was just ten in the morning. He signed, realizing that there was no way he'd get home through the darkness, "Ok, how much for a room?"

"35,200 yen, sir," the desk manager held out his hand to accept the money, which Izuku reluctantly handed over, "Very good, now follow me."

Izuku was led up a flight of stairs and into an elevator, where he was taken up to the fifth floor. Once the elevator opened, Izuku followed the hotel staff past a small waiting room and to the very end of a hallway that was lined with doors.

The man silently handed Izuku a small silver key before walking off, he stood in front of this hotel room and hesitantly unlocked the door.

His room was fairly standard, two twin beds, a nice view, and a bathroom, but something felt off, everything he touched didn't feel real. Izuku's phone fell out of his pocket, and when he reached down to grab it, he realized that the ground he stood on was rippling.

Izuku, now thoroughly freaked, frantically stumbled his way out of his room, only to walk into another person.

"I-I'm sorr—" Izuku cut himself off as he saw who he bumped into. Fluffy dark green hair, four freckles on each cheek, and dull green eyes.

"You're… me," Izuku whispered.

"A cognition of you," the other Izuku meekly corrected.

Izuku gave himself a confused stare, before hesitantly asking, "Who's cognition?"

"Mr. Bakugou's, of course."

This only stumped Izuku more, as he racked his brain trying to understand the situation, he noticed that the cognition had a large burn on it's arm.

"What happened there?" Izuku questioned.

"Mr. Bakugou needed to blow off some steam, so he used me as his torture doll. It's all I'm good for anyway, just a meek Deku," the other Izuku said nonchalantly.

The real Izuku came close to throwing up at his words, the idea of Bakugou seeing him as a thing to abuse, hurt him on a deep level. But something in him knew that this was the truth all along, he lifted up his shirt to reveal multiple bruises, some faded and some more prominent.

It was as if a fog had been lifted from his eyes as he saw the bruises for what they truly were, no longer just signs of friendly joshing that went too far, they were signs of cruelty and hatred.

"How could I have been so blind?" Izuku asked himself as his head began to throb in pain, "I can't believe I thought of him as my friend!"

Izuku clutched his head as pain surged through it, and a Texan voice boomed through his head, "So, it seems you’ve finally realized where your loyalty needs to lie."

"It took you long enough," another Texan voice, this time from a female voice, chimed in.

Izuku had fallen onto his knees and was screaming in agony at this point, a pair of pilot's goggles had appeared on his face, and the first voice spoke again, "Now how about we make a deal, I Am Thou—"

"Thou Art I," the female voice finished.

Izuku's hand snapped to the goggles on his face, and began to rip them off in a bloody fashion, screaming all the while. The goggles finally ripped off of his face, and his entire body was engulfed in blue flame.

Izuku slammed his foot to the ground and the flames parted around him, revealing that his clothes had now changed; he was wearing a dark brown pilots jacket, a pair of black jeans, dark green gloves, his red shoes had stayed, but the pilot's goggles had appeared back on his face.

"YOU'RE NOT WHO I AM, AND YOU NEVER WILL BE!" Izuku yelled.

The cognitive Izuku fell back, and a giant dark green slug took its place.

Izuku scowled before he placed a hand over his face, "Bonnie and Clyde," two figures appeared behind him, surrounded by a light blue hue.

The first was a man with vibrant red skin, wearing a slightly darker red button up shirt, a pair of brown dress pants with black suspenders, black dress shoes, and a brown fedora with a red trim as well as two small red horns that have ripped through the hat. In his left hand he held a luger pistol and in his right he held a cigarette

Standing to the first figure's left, was a woman with pale gold skin, she was wearing a golden dress, black high heels, a black headband with a few golden feathers sticking from the back, and a halo floated above her head. In her right hand she held a broomhandle pistol, and in her left she held a cigarette holder.

"Help me kill this fake!" Izuku finished.

Clyde fired his gun, and ribbons of red, black, and white sliced straight through cognitive Izuku.

Bonnie shot the slug next, a ray of golden light piercing through its slimy green flesh as easily as a knife cutting through butter.

The honor of the final blow was given to Izuku, as he pressed his boot against the cognitive Izuku's skull, he whispered a small word of thanks, before smashing it apart in a crimson mess.

Bonnie and Clyde disappeared and Izuku was left panting for breath in the hallway on his own, questioning anything and everything.

When he finally mustered up the strength to move again, he noticed that a spear, and a crossbow, along with a quiver of arrows, laid neatly on the ground in front of his feet.

The spear was rudimentary at best, just a sharp, flat stone attached to a long wood pole, the quiver was made of a brown leather, and the arrows seemed to be pretty standard as well, but the crossbow was sleek and black, with a small scope at the top of it.

If there was a god, they clearly felt like treating Izuku.

The green-haired teen threw the quiver over his shoulder, tucked the crossbody away inside of it, and took up the spear in his left hand.

Izuku's brain hurt with all of the questions that he had at this point, "I need to get out of here, I can talk to Sakamoto about this when school starts back up," he mused to himself as he cautiously made his way back to the elevator.

  
  


**\--**

  
  


Joker yelled as he was thrown back into a pile with his teammates, the four of them groaned in pain as they were surrounded by shadows.

"You've caused a lot of trouble for me," a gruff voice said, two of the shadows parted to reveal Katsuki's shadow, standing with his hands behind his back and a scowl on his face, he snapped his fingers and one of his underlings ran off.

"You broke into my hotel, assaulted my staff, and stole from me," Panther, Skull, and Mona all glared at Joker, who sheepishly shrugged, "And do you know how we deal with thieves in my hotel?"

The shadow that had run off came back, this time with a flamethrower and tank of gasoline in tow.

"Say goodbye," Katsuki sneered as he aimed the flamethrower at them.

A sharp twang resounded through the hotel lobby, and everybody looked up just in time to see the large chandelier fall from the ceiling and crush four of the eight shadows that surrounded the Phantom Thieves.

A spear flew through the chest of another shadow, and the one right next to it was forced to the ground by a figure with fluffy green hair landing on it's back.

"Is that…Midoriya?!" Panther asked as she watched Izuku summon a Persona to his side.

"And it looks like he's had an awakening too!" Mona grinned.

"Fire!" Izuku yelled, before two bullets lodged themselves into the remaining two shadow's skulls.

Skull huffed with a small amount of jealousy, "How come he gets two?"

"Forget that for now, we need to get out of here," Joker said as he got to his feet, the rest of his team following suit, "And we should probably grab him before he does anything rash."

Izuku had retrieved his spear and was stalking toward Shadow Katsuki with a feral look in his eyes. He got within stabbing range before Panther grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out of the metaverse.

  
  


**\--**

  
  


Izuku slowly slumped down the wall of the school gate while rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Tired?" the black-haired one asked.

Izuku groaned in confirmation.

"Yeah, that's how it was with the rest of us," the sole female chuckled.

"It's because you've awakened to the power of your Persona," a cat popped up from the black haired kids bag.

"Th-that cat is talking. Why is that cat talking?" Izuku stuttered.

"Yeah, he tends to do that, his name is Morgana. Speakin' of names, that's Ann, and he's Ren, I think we can drop the formalities," Ryuji said.

Izuku nodded in conformation, "Alright, you can call me Izuku then. But could one of you explain what just happened?"

"Well, we could, but it's getting late. We should exchange contact info so we can explain everything to you tomorrow," Ann suggested while taking out her phone.

Izuku handed her his phone, and she put his number into her's before handing it back to him.

"I should go, I don't want my mom to get worried about me," Izuku told the group as he got to his feet.

The five of them said their goodbyes, and Izuku began his trek home. Despite how tired he was, he walked with a small pep in his step, for the first time in a while, he might have found a place where he can belong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back on my Persona bullshit, next chapter is gonna be for Jigsaw Reborn so be prepared for that. Real quick I'm going to shamelessly plug my Twitter: @AidanTheCrab298. That's it for now, Peace.


	3. Hotel Buffet

_ Yogen-Jaya, 3:30 PM _

Izuku felt uneasy staring up at the bland shop he was told to show up at. It had a homely feel to it with its run down look, the wood looked worn and slightly warped, and the windows were aged and foggy, like an old cabin in the middle of the woods. 

But that could also mean it was a secret meth lab.

An arm laid on his shoulder, causing him to recoil in fright. He turned around to see Ryuji with a grin on his face.

"Sorry about that, didn't mean to scare ya'," Ryuji apologized.

"I'm surprised you didn't do that with your face," Ann jested as she walked up to the two of them. Ryuji hissed at her like an irate cat, which she laughed off. 

The three pushed the door open to the shop, and the strangely enticing combined smell of coffee and curry punched through their senses.

"Hmm, you guys are new," a deep voice from behind the counter said. The voice belonged to an older man, with slicked back black hair and a long goatee of the same color. He wore a pink button up shirt, a black apron, and a pair of glasses rested on his face.

"What'll it be?"

"Oh, we're not here to order anything, we actually came for-" Izuku was interrupted by the cat that jumped downstairs, followed by Ren.

"They came here for me, Sojiro" Ren finished.

"I didn't say you could bring anyone over," Sojiro chastised.

"Sorry, I forgot to ask you," Ren shrugged guiltily.

"Just make sure to ask before you do it, and keep them upstairs," Sojiro jammed his thumb towards the stairs, which Ryuji and Ren ran up, but he held back Izuku and Ann. "You two look like you're not hoodlums, tell me, how's the kid doing?"

"Oh, well he's doing good, he's not as bad as everyone says he is," Ann smiled.

"I haven't known him for too long but...he's a nice guy," Izuku mumbled.

"Hmph, good. If he gets in trouble he drags me down with him. You two can go on up, just keep it quiet. If I get any customers I don't want them to be disturbed," Sojiro ordered.

"Yes sir," the two said as they ran up the steps to join their friends.

"So, we probably have some explaining to do," Ren sighed.

"Yeah, you do. What the hell happened yesterday?" Izuku asked impatiently.

"You were pulled into the metaverse, it's a world made by cognition, and you were in a place called a palace, specifically Bakugou's. A palace is formed when someone's desires become too distorted," Morgana explained.

"And that...thing that I summoned?"

"It's your persona, it's your rebellion personified, you did something in the hotel that freed your soul, it's the same reason why your clothes changed," Ren answered.

"What's the point of palaces? Why go in them, all they seem to do is put you in danger. More importantly how do you even get in them?" Izuku questioned.

"Each palace has a treasure, if you steal it, then that person's heart will change, and their palace goes away," Ann pulled out her phone and showed an app, red in color and with a black eye on the cover, "And we can get into them with this: the metaverse navigator. It showed up on our phones the minute we first got back out of the metaverse."

"Oh, that's what that was," Izuku pulled out his phone and showed them all the same app, "I haven't been able to delete it."

"You've got something special, just like us, and from what we've seen it's powerful. We're not gonna’ force you to join us, but we could use your help," Ren offered.

"So you're saying that if we steal his treasure, Bakugou would go back to what he was like when we were kids?"

"Not exactly, but he'd definitely be better than he is now," Ryuji admitted.

Izuku sighed and pulled out his phone, pulling up a picture of him and Katsuki as little kids playing in an inflatable pool, "I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't help him. I'm in."

"Whoo! Welcome to the Phantom Thieves!" Ann cheered.

"I said to keep it down!" Sojiro called from the ground floor.

"Sorry!" All five of them simultaneous yelled back

"Oh yeah, we're going to this hotel with a huge buffet tomorrow to celebrate us taking down Kamoshida, you wanna come?" Ryuji offered.

"I don't think we have enough to bring him with us," Morgana deadpanned, dropping Ren's wallet on the ground.

"I can pay for myself...probably," Izuku waved off the group's concern. Everybody turned to him with their eyes wide, silence floating through the woods.

"You just have 10,000 Yen to burn?!" Ryuji yelled.

"I live in an apartment complex and a lot of the people there are too old to do stuff like cleaning, so they pay me to do it for them," Izuku innocently shrugged.

Izuku then pouted and admitted, "I had way more than 10,000 but Katsuki's palace weaseled me out of most of it,"

"Well then, meet back here tomorrow, but don't be late or we'll leave without you," Ren warned.

"Thanks," Izuku's phone pinged, and he made a noise of panic, "Oh no, I forgot my grandma was coming over my mom is gonna kill me!" and with that Izuku took off down the stairs and out of the door.

  
  


**\--**

  
  


The four of them had the arguably most crowded table, and it had the least amount of people there. Ann had only deserts in front of her, Ryuji was only eating meat, and Izuku solely ate grain dishes.

Ren and Morgana watched in horror as Ryuji cleaned an entire turkey leg in under a minute.

"Mmh," Ann moaned as she took a bite of cheesecake.

"You guys are disgusting," Morgana gagged.

"Sorry," Izuku said with his mouth full, small pieces of rice falling back on his plate.

Ryuji nabbed another piece of meat and ate a sixth of it in one bite, "I'm not. I didn't eat anything all day in preparation for this."

Ann suddenly gasped, "We only have thirty minutes left to eat!"

"We have a timer?" Ren asked.

"It's to keep the ratio of customers to guests even. Everybody split up and grab whatever you can!" Ann yelled as the five of them broke from the table.

They all came back with their arms full with plates stacked high with food, and proceeded to eat their way to sickness for the next twenty minutes.

"Ugh, this was such a bad idea," the loud blond boy groaned.

"I feel like I'm gonna puke," Morgana whined.

"Don't you dare do it in my bag," Ren hissed, "I'll take you to the bathroom, you can do it there," Ren stood up, grabbing his bag, and began to walk away, with Ryuji close behind him.

"I'm gonna go take a walk, try not to hurl," Izuku told Ann, to which he got a moan of pain and confirmation.

Izuku wandered around the lobby aimlessly, looking for something to keep his mind occupied. Suddenly, his ear canal was invaded by the sweet sound of trumpets.

Following the sound, the green-haired boy came across a band, playing a song that he couldn't quite understand, the singer switching between French, English, and Japanese.

Although Izuku wasn't really focusing on him, he was focusing on the actual band. The way their fingers moved as they played their instruments, and the passion that they played them with, it all looked so beautiful.

"The music is nice isn't it?" Ann asked.

Izuku let out a startled yelp, jumping a few inches to the left, after calming down he said, "Yeah, really nice. Almost mesmerizing."

They stood in silence for a few minutes, just listening to the music together, swaying slightly.

"Hey," Ann said abruptly, "If you ever want to talk to someone about what he did to you, don't hesitate to text me or call me. I know what it's like, I went through it too."

"I know, and when the time comes, I'll open up about it, but right now I want to focus on getting closure from him first. You can do the same to me by the way," Izuku let out a long sigh.

"Promise?" Ann asked, holding out her hand.

Izuku grinned slightly as he took her hand into his, "Promise."

Ann's smile grew wider and brighter and she started to drag Izuku away from the music, not letting go of his hand, much to his embarrassment. "Come on, there's one last desert that I haven't tried yet and it's too big for me to eat by myself!"

"Ann, please, if I eat anything else I'll explode," Izuku groaned.

  
  


**\--**

  
  


"What's got you guys in such a twist?" Ann asked as Ren and Ryuji sat down grumpily.

"Nothin', just some asshole at the elevator pissed me off," Ryuji said.

"Yeah, same here, this woman saw our table and made a very audible noise of disgust," Ann frowned.

"...Why does it feel like we don't belong?"

"Because we don't," Izuku answered, "At least not in this society. But we have something that we do belong to; the Phantom Thieves."

"Y'know what, you're right. Screw those assholes man, let's make ourselves famous," Ryuji pumped his fist in the air.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Morgana questioned.

"We need to find famous asshats, find out if they have a palace and change their hearts. They admit to being awful, and then we get the recognition," Ryuji explained.

"What good would that do?" Ann stared at Ryuji with a confused look

"Simple, it takes away their power, these people get away with all kinds of shit because of their reputation. Plus, if we only went after people who are low profile, then nobody will know who we are, but going after celebrities will practically make us a household name."

"Ok, but how would people know that it's us?" Izuku asked.

"The calling cards," Ren smirked, "We have to leave them for the treasure of a palace to appear."

"I'm on board," Ann shrugged.

Everybody else nodded in agreement, before Ryuji slammed his hand on their table, "You need a name!"

Izuku jumped back from the loud noise, "What?" 

"We don't like using our real names in the metaverse, so we use code-names. I'm Mona, Ren is Joker, Lady Ann is called Panther, and we call Ryuji, Skull."

"What about Barron? It's elegant and with those pilot goggles it's thematically relevant," Suggested Ann.

"I see where you're coming from…buuut, the name's not badass enough. How about Jet?" Ryuji said.

"Ace," Izuku interrupted the bickering about his name with his own suggestion.

The others thought about their name for a few seconds, before Ren accepted his name with a hearty cheer of, "Ace it is!"

"Excuse me, but your time is up, I must ask you to leave," the concierge told them in a condescending voice.

"Sorry sir," Izuku bowed to the man as he stood up, the others following suit.

After the group split up, Izuku noticed he and Ann had gone in the same direction, much to his dismay considering the butterflies that had been punching his gut since they had shared that slice of cake a few minutes ago.

"We really need to do that again," Ann's eyes were sparkling with the thought of going back to the hotel buffet.

"Well I could but that guy at the front desk of Katsuki's palace took most of the cash I had saved up," Izuku deadpanned.

"We can dream, can't we?" She huffed.

Izuku laughed, "Maybe, but it took me about five years to get that much Yen."

"Well we don't have to invite everyone next time," the blonde girl said with a shrug.

_ Attention! Blush level at 90% and counting. _

"O-Oh, w-well that s-sounds really fun," Izuku stammered out, not noticing how loud he was speaking.

The two dropped the subject in exchange for whatever came to mind, and eventually Izuku's blush died down, making him no longer a human strawberry. 

"This is me," Izuku sighed as he pointed up at his apartment complex, four stories high and with about twenty apartments on each floor.

"Alright, well I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow," Ann waved goodbye but did not move, the two sat in silence for a few seconds, just awkwardly standing there.

Izuku was about to leave for real, when without warning, Ann stuck her arms out. "Friend hug?" she offered innocently.

Izuku went rigid, steam rocketing out of his ears. Of course, he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to hug a pretty girl that he may be developing an ity bity little crush on.

The freckled boy wrapped his arms around her and they both simultaneously gave each other stiff pats on the back, before pulling away.

"I should really be going now. I said I'd be home a few minutes ago and my mom gets worried really easily. Goodnight," Izuku said, still blushing up a storm.

"Goodnight!"

_ Warning! Blush level at critical condition, drown self in cold water immediately. _

Izuku was thankful he lived on the second floor, because he wouldn't have made it to his door otherwise.

  
  


**\--**

  
  


Izuku groaned as the ping from his phone woke him up, he unwrapped his arms from his pillow and grabbed his phone, hissing at the light.

It was a text from Ryuji in the group chat that the other three had added him to yesterday.

_ Ryuji: Yo, we got a problem. _

_ Ren: It's 11:00 PM, can't this wait until tomorrow? _

_ Ryuji: No man, it's about Bakugou. _

_ Ann: Go on. _

_ Ryuji: Ok, so you know how he's graduating this year? _

_ Ryuji: On my walk home, I overheard him talking with his cronies in an alleyway about leaving his mark before he goes off to college. _

_ Ryuji: He plans to burn down Inokashira park! _

_ Izuku: What?! _

_ Ryuji: He plans to do it on the thirteenth. _

_ Ann: So then we have to stop him on the twelfth. _

_ Ren: And send the calling card on the eleventh. _

_ Izuku: That only gives us five days to find his treasure! _

_ Ryuji: Calm down, we got through Kamoshida's in one day. We can beat this one in a day too. _

_ Ren: Mission start everybody. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As you can see, I'm already sprinkling in the IzuAnn crumbs where I can. Now next week, I'm going to be uploading a new story in preparation for the end of Slaughterhouse which is rapidly approaching. That's it for now, Peace.


	4. Update

So this is something that I truly didn't want to have to do again but unfortunately this story is now discontinuing. I tried so hard to write the fourth chapter of this I really did, but time and time again I kept coming up blank. I truly apologise for this.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, world's most sleep deprived crab here. I'm sorry if this chapter seems a bit rushed I was trying not to include too much exposition in it cause I didn't want the first chapter to be 10k words long, the next chapter of this should be a lot better. That's it for now, peace.


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